We collect the unexpected treasures...
Books by Martin Murie  Desert Rats
An adventure story. Five young humans explore a desert land in the harsh heat of mid-summer, meeting other life forms: the weird, the dangerous, the sudden, the beautiful. By Martin Murie. Packrat Books, 2008, 67 pp. $10.00.  Purchase Lester and Me
Sandy and Lester, very different young men, but as Sandy tells Kathy, "We worked at the same job, got used to each other." They have a talent for trouble, growing up in Wyoming, The Adventure State. By Martin Murie. Packrat Books, 2007, 138 pp. $12.00. Purchase Breakout - sequel to Windswept
Old folks, some from nursing homes, team up with a biker and a covey of birdwatchers and hit the road in a transcontinental defense of endangered species. A radical salute to age and activism. By Martin Murie. Packrat Books, 2005, 306 pp. $15.00. Purchase Windswept
Jennifer, a scientist rebelling against Big Pharmas, gets help from a Montana biker and a trio of unlikely birdwatchers in Wyoming's roughest mountains. By Martin Murie. Homestead Publishing, 2001, 160 pp. $14.95. Purchase Burt's Way
"I have never read a book like BURT's WAY, a mystery with no murder, a detective who is a post-alcoholic ordinary guy who reads Proust because he likes it, and falls in love with hippie women ...a border story that is totally neglected by the media. It's what's between the cities." Mary Scriver, author of Sweetgrass and Cottonwood Smoke. By Martin Murie. Packrat Books, 2000, 210 pp. $12.00. Purchase Red Tree Mouse Chronicles
"As with any fable, this one's setting is specific and unimportant, its message universal and very important." Neal Burdick, editor, Adirondac. By Martin Murie. Packrat Books, 2001, 85 pp. $6.00. Purchase Seriously Insistent
Friendly, but serious, critique of environmentalism. A defense of bottom up democracy in our attempts to save the earth. By Martin Murie. Packrat Books, 2003, 72 pp. $7.00. Purchase Losing Solitude
A story of survival and discovery in a time of momentous and sweeping change. It's also a novel about the unspoken importance of environmental health in everyday life. By Martin Murie. Homestead Publishing, 1996, 218 pp. $14.95. Purchase |
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 The Voice of the Butterfly
by John Nichols The question following the dedication: "How can we save ourselves before we self-destruct ?" When Suicide City's new highway bypass threatens the home of an exquisitely obscure butterfly, aging '60s radical and continuing proponent of losing battles Charley McFarland rallies an off-the-rails band of misfits to help fight the powers that be. A dazzling dark comedy of ideals and unlikely heroes, Nichols's latest novel will delight fans of his Milagro Beanfield War and of Nichols's unique style: "Raise the toughest questions you can think of, but keep the readers laughing" (Denver Post). By John Nichols. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2001.
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Worldly Matters. Essays and Short Narratives
by Walt McLaughlin A collection of short essays, each of which tells a story that embeds us in forests and streams, and all concerning ultimate meaning of the universe and our place in its vastness. By Walt McLaughlin. Woodthrush Books, 2007, $10.00.
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 The Bridge at the Edge of the World "Capitalism, the Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability", by James Gustave Speth As Economic Anxiety Fuels the American Obsession with Growth, A Dissenting Voice Calls for Radical Change. Co-founder of the NRDC, Yale University dean, and former White House advisor James Gustave Speth has been a leader in the environmental movement for more than 30 years. Called “the ultimate insider” by TIME magazine, he has long worked through traditional channels to raise awareness of environmental issues. But now, faced with overwhelming evidence of galloping degradation of the planet, Speth has concluded that the environmental project—his project—has failed. No matter how hard environmentalists work, the current of destruction against which they are swimming is simply too swift. In order to preserve a livable planet for future generations, Speth argues in The Bridge at the Edge of the World , the current itself must be altered. And the current is that untouchable edifice, American-style consumer capitalism. By James Gustave Speth. Yale University Press, 2008.
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 The Mendocino Papers "An Informal History of Mendocino County, Volume 1.", by Bruce Anderson Bruce Anderson came to Mendocino county in 1970, not so much to "go back to the land" as to leave the city, San Francisco, that had turned mean and murderous. He was among hippies, counted himself as one of them. It didn't take long for experiences in the city and in the wild haunts of Mendocino county to turn him into one of the most astringent critics of the hippie generation and of American culture in general. By Bruce Anderson. AVA, Boonville, CA 95415. 2008. $20.00 ppd. ISBN 1-4196-9014-0
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 Bronze Inside and Out "A Biographical Memoir of Bob Scriver", by Mary Strachan Scriver This book is a work of authenticity. Two talented people, Bob Scriver and Mary Strachan met and married and for more than ten years worked together in and at the making of art from the ground up. Bob, musician and band leader as a youth in Browning, had that feel for art; he could grasp the architecture of animal and human bodies from his life as hunter, horseman, taxidermist and western hands-on worker. His reputation as a sculptor in bronze and his pivotal role in the rise of "cowboy art" are well-known. By Mary Strachan Scriver. Calgary University Press, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 2007. 372 pp. $44.95.
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Arguing With The Wind "A Spiritual Journey Into the Alaskan Wilderness", by Walt McLaughlin This book stands out among the huge flocks of Nature adventures because of its honesty, a true searching. During a two-week stay in south-east Alaska Walt keeps his cool, discards egoistic notions, lets us in on his thoughts and how those thoughts shift as he encounters bears, ravens, eagles and others of the wild, and weather. By Walt McLaughlin. Woodthrush Books, 2003. Purchase
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 Brave New West "Morphing Moab at the Speed of Greed", by Jim Stiles Bringing insight based on decades of residence in Moab, the author makes a provocative and compelling argument that the amenities economy most environmentalists hail as the solution to the woes of the rural West is in fact creating an unprecedented impact of its own. With a blend of travelogue, local color and geography, Stiles engages readers with folksy humor while defending the lifestyle of the "pre-cappuccino rural Westerners" and exposing the paradox that underlies the professed good intentions of liberal newcomers. By Jim Stiles. University of Arizona Press, 2007, 262 pp. $12.00.
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 Predatory Bureaucracy
"Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West", by Michael J. Robinson. If you are interested in wolves you will want this book. It goes into predator programs conducted by the Bureau of Biological Survey (now Fish and Wildlife Service) in close contact with ranchers in the west and the state governments of western states. There are stories of smart wolves, so clever at evading traps that they were named; and stories of smart trappers too. These stories alone are worth the price of the book. The history goes on, bringing us into the period of internal revolt inside the Bureau, pro-predators and kill-them-all factions. This is a good snapshot of the interior of the Bureau, the agonizing choices individual biologists had to make. Finally, Robinson takes us into the current scene, with special emphasis on the turmoil in the southwest re introduction of the Mexican wolf subspecies: politics, rancher's and residents' views, the biological requirements of the wolves, and so on. The author is obviously in favor of saving habitats of wild species, but he does an excellent job of looking at the several sides of this great western drama. Robinson is Conservation Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. Michael J. Robinson. University Press of Colorado, 2005. Purchase
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Stray Thoughts
"Excerpts From a Philosophy Journal ", by Walt McLaughlin. A prose chapbook. Sharp and incisive. Walt opens with this: "I feel a definite sense of power when I start up my car and motor down the road, but my pedestrian thoughts seem to carry more weight than my automotive ones." Also on page one: "God's silence is the only way that existence can be honest with us. Every human utterance about the world contains at least one lie. " One more: "'You think too much' the rock said to the amoeba." Can't resist this one: "Each day requires an existental 'yes' or 'no' to the world. 'Maybe' doesn't cut it. 'Maybe' is a waste of time, the day lost." This is a 26-page chapbook, loaded with short and intriguing statements. In the introduction, Walt states: "I consider these thoughts stray only because they don't constitute a comprehensive, systematic philosophy. Contradictions abound in this slender volume. That is intentional. I hold all seamless worldviews in contempt and strongly urge my readers to do the same." Walt McLaughlin. Wood Thrush Books, 2009. $7.00: Wood Thrush Books, 85 Aldis St., St. Albans, VT 05478
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Winds of Morning
by H. L. Davis. A western-set novel The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou heareth the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth and so every one that is born of the Spirit Saint John III, 8. From the review by Martin Murie: It’s the lingo and close attention to weather and earth and horses and people being dissected that I wanted to dredge up from fifty seven years ago. It resonates today. This novel is about struggle, inside us and outside, all inter-mingled in a complex that none of us can ever get a good hold on. It’s about responsibility. Most of us know about responsibility and we go to outlandish lengths to find excuses, to weasel out of it. Hendricks finally has to quit weaseling and free himself. He says that if he gets any credit for it he’ll throw the credits back. H. L. Davis. William Morrow and Company, 1952.
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Nature and Existence
by Walt McLaughlin. From the review by Martin Murie: There are several themes in this slim, but excellent, book. The leading lesson is that we know we have conquered Nature, but we haven’t. Nature does not care about any one species. He quotes Gary Snyder: “Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” Emerson and Thoreau knew this truism, as did many other people who lived with and within nature.There is no getting around it. “The wild” is our salvation, once we take the time to live in wilderness for a while. We will become acquainted with more than scenery and wild animals and brief epiphanies. If we pay close attention, we will become impressed with Nature’s Way, not favoring any one species. Walt McLaughlin, Wood Thrush Books, 2010.
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